Media slimes an innocent in the Gates Affair

I suppose Lucia Whalen is what's known as "collateral damage" in the war begun by Obama supporting racialists over the Gates Affair.

Whalen is the good citizen who called 911 when she saw what she believed were strangers trying to break into Gates' house. Media reports hinted that the reason she called the police was that the men were black, implying that if they were white, she wouldn't have called it in.

The facts tell a different story; Whalen called the police without knowing the race of the suspicious men. This, according to a story in the Boston Globe by John R. Ellement and Matt Collette:

The woman, identified in a police report on file in Cambridge District Court as 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, saw the backs of both men and did not know their race when she called 911, said Wendy J. Murphy, a Boston lawyer from New England School of Law. Whalen phoned police, Murphy said, because she was aware of recent break-ins in the area.

In an interview last night, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas said it was ac curate that Whalen did not mention race in her 911 call. He acknowledged that a police report of the incident did include a race reference. The report says Whalen observed "what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the front porch'' of a Ware Street home on July 16.

That reference is there, said Haas, because the police report is a summary. Its descriptions- like the race of the two men - were collected during the inquiry, not necessarily from the initial 911 call, he said.

I doubt whether these facts will make it into discussions on the Gates Affair. The narrative is set and once that happens, any contrary information is forgotten.

"This woman is 100 percent clear on what she said," said attorney Wendy J. Murphy, who is representing 911 caller Lucia Whalen. "She never said she saw two black men. She said, ‘It never crossed my mind that there were two black men.' "

In fact, Whalen, who wants the world to know she is not a racist, isn't even white - as had been widely reported - but has "olive-colored skin and is of Portuguese descent," Murphy said.

I suppose Lucia Whalen is what's known as "collateral damage" in the war begun by Obama supporting racialists over the Gates Affair.

Whalen is the good citizen who called 911 when she saw what she believed were strangers trying to break into Gates' house. Media reports hinted that the reason she called the police was that the men were black, implying that if they were white, she wouldn't have called it in.

The facts tell a different story; Whalen called the police without knowing the race of the suspicious men. This, according to a story in the Boston Globe by John R. Ellement and Matt Collette:

The woman, identified in a police report on file in Cambridge District Court as 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, saw the backs of both men and did not know their race when she called 911, said Wendy J. Murphy, a Boston lawyer from New England School of Law. Whalen phoned police, Murphy said, because she was aware of recent break-ins in the area.

In an interview last night, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas said it was ac curate that Whalen did not mention race in her 911 call. He acknowledged that a police report of the incident did include a race reference. The report says Whalen observed "what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the front porch'' of a Ware Street home on July 16.

That reference is there, said Haas, because the police report is a summary. Its descriptions- like the race of the two men - were collected during the inquiry, not necessarily from the initial 911 call, he said.

I doubt whether these facts will make it into discussions on the Gates Affair. The narrative is set and once that happens, any contrary information is forgotten.

"This woman is 100 percent clear on what she said," said attorney Wendy J. Murphy, who is representing 911 caller Lucia Whalen. "She never said she saw two black men. She said, ‘It never crossed my mind that there were two black men.' "

In fact, Whalen, who wants the world to know she is not a racist, isn't even white - as had been widely reported - but has "olive-colored skin and is of Portuguese descent," Murphy said.